Mozart Jupiter symphony Live VPO 1968

Otto Klemperer; Wiener Philharmoniker

(live broadcast perfomances)

19th May 1968:

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F, BWV1046

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Serenade No.12 in C minor, K.388/381a

Symphony No.41 in C, K.551 'Jupiter'

26th. May :

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Coriolan - Overture/Ouvertüre/Ouverture, Op.62

Symphony No.4 in B flat, Op.60

Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67

2nd. June:

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) (Orch. Klemperer)
Gavotte with 6 variations

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphony No.5 in B flat

9th June:

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony No.9 in D minor 

16th. June:

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Symphony No.8 in B minor, D.759 'Unfinished'

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Don Juan, Op.20

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Siegfried Idyll
Tristan und Isolde - Prelude
Die Meistersinger von Nürnburg - Prelude

15th. June 1958

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
A German Requiem
Wilma Lipp - soprano; Eberhard Wächter - baritone
Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde

__________

An overview.

In my opinion it is useful to listen to these performances as they were presented as concerts, rather than the order on the CDs, which deviates for reasons of timings. Klemperer had a strange relationship with the VPO. He admired them as the best orchestra in the World, but found them occasionally difficult and sometimes obstructive. Many of the members of the orchestra wished that they had a more regular contact with Klemperer. These performance swing between the dire and the elementally great.

16th. May: The first concert shows an address that an amateur orchestra would have been worried by. The Brandenburg Concerto Number One almost breaks down in the Second Movement, and listening is like watching a car crash in slow motion over thirty seconds. Once the almost break-down is over the orchestra wakes up and plays reasonably well. Equally the wind band in the Mozart Serenade Number 12 is completely inattentive at the start. Then comes the interval and I might imagine a serious pep-talk in the Green Room, and the second half contains a performance of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony that is the best I have ever heard on records or in the concert hall. A revelation to say the least. 

The 26th May concert is an all Beethoven programme started with an epic and powerful performance of the tragic Coriolan Overture, and a serene and well played performance of the Fourth Symphony. After the interval comes a rugged and fiery Fifth. A great concert from beginning to end.

The concert on the 2nd. June brings us the witty Rameau Gavotte with Six Variations as orchestrated by Klemperer, as a starter for the Bruckner Fifth Symphony. I would say that the Symphony is treated to the best performance of it that I have ever come across, and the Rameau serves as a wonderful little appetiser!

The 9th June confronts us with Mahler's Ninth. Always an event, this one is a grand and epic concentration.

The 16th June proves an apt Finale to Klmperer's "farewell" to the VPO. A glouriously played and long-breathed performance of Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony, leads to a wise and very clear performance of Richard Strauss's "Don Juan, followed by Richard Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, Prelude to Tristan and Isolde, and then the Meistersinger Prelude. This concert is faultless, and would certainly have made a lifelong impression on those present. We are lucky to have such a recording!

Ten years earlier Klemperer had led a performance with the VPO of Brahms's Requiem. This one is a curates egg. The sopranos start by loosing pitch and singing the high parts resolutely flat in the first section. I gave up on this first time. But on a second attempt things engaged after that, and a towering performance emerged. Trenchant, with thunder clap timpani here and there, and an orchestra playing for all its worth.

Conclusion. In these discs is contained exactly why Klemperer could call the VPO the best in the World, while admitting that they were not always so. The standout performance comes in the first concert in my view. The Mozart Jupiter linked to in the first post on youtube, but everything is remarkable.  The Bruckner is glorious, and the Mahler also, and the whole of the last concert exists on a level that is rare even in single pieces in concert.

Apart from the first half of the first concert, these performances have already become benchmarks for me. They show why Klemperer was so admired by audiences, orchestras, and critics alike at the time, and add to one's appreciation of the slightly different qualities found in the EMI studio recordings with the Philharmonia in London ...

Thanks to Testament Records for making such a fine job of restoring the original tapes to create such an amazing CD album.

ATB from George